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Longleaf Pine Savanna: A Botanist’s Paradise

“We find ourselves on the entrance of a vast plain which extends west sixty or seventy miles…This plain is mostly a forest of the great long-leaved pine (Pinus palustris), the earth covered with grass, interspersed with an infinite variety of herbaceous plants, and embellished with extensive savannahs, always green, sparkling with ponds of water…”

William Bartram, a great naturalist explorer, wrote in his travel journals in the late 1700s as he botanized across the Southeast, coming across the vast fire-dependent longleaf pine forests that in his time covered 92 million acres of land from southern Virginia to Florida to eastern Texas. Today, we are left with less than three percent of that, mostly for anthropogenic reasons including logging, agriculture, and fire suppression. This is a staggering loss because these forests are some of the most biodiverse in the world. The low-grade fires that swept through them every 1-10 years maintained an open canopy of longleaf with a rich understory, replete with grasses, ferns, and wildflowers able to grow profusely with the ample sunlight the open canopy provided. Here, minute changes in elevation and moisture create many different plant communities within the umbrella of a longleaf forest, and some of these have over 40 species per square meter, making them more biodiverse than a tropical rainforest. At least 1,200 vascular plants are endemic (found nowhere else), and many of these are now rare or endangered.

One of the most compelling communities embedded within longleaf forests are longleaf bogs. Here, soil moisture is critical and many bog communities are actually the result of a hard, impermeable clay layer beneath porous sand. Rainwater percolates through the sand but runs into an impermeable clay “lens” where it is either trapped (like a pool) or seeps out the side of a hill. The resultant bogs are home to several types of fascinating carnivorous plants, including pitcher plants and sundews. A gorgeous array of orchids and other wildflowers live in these bogs as well, making them a botanist’s paradise.

At Trees Atlanta, we are celebrating the legacy of Longleaf with the creation of an Arboretum space on the Westside BeltLine that will house a Longleaf Pine Savanna and Bog. We recently worked with a local women-owned trail design and construction company, Tailored Trails, to build a boardwalk through close to 400 square feet of shrub beds with species like Buttonbush and Beautyberry that grow prolifically in Longleaf forests. The boardwalk will continue about 2,000 square feet through the Longleaf Pine Savanna, where the charismatic pitcher plants and orchids will be planted. Royal Landscape and Gardens installed irrigation and stonework, and local artist-blacksmith Jason Smith will install a metal railing incorporating unique ecosystem species into its design. Mark Reinke of Marble Branch Farms is providing the pitcher plants.

We will begin planting on Wednesday, May 13, so you can expect to marvel over orchids like Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides) and Marsh Lady’s Tresses (Spiranthes odorata), and pitcher plants like Yellow (Sarracenia flava), White (S. leucophylla), and Sweet (S. rubra) later this week.

1. Magnolia Collection

Magnolias are part of an ancient lineage of flowering plants dating back approximately 95 million years. The Atlanta BeltLine Arboretum is home to 18 types of magnolias from evergreen to flowering. Two magnolias in particular have witnessed history as they were planted just beyond the outfield wall for the former Ponce de Leon Park, where the Atlanta Crackers played baseball. Babe Ruth and Eddie Matthews both hit home runs that were caught in the canopy of one of these magnolia trees. As part of Arboretum experimentation, we have taken cuttings from these historic magnolias and grown them into new trees so that this piece of history can live on the Atlanta BeltLine Arboretum and in new parks and baseball fields around Atlanta.

2. 33 Oaks

The oak trees on this slope and throughout the Arboretum represent many ecosystems in Georgia, from bottomland hardwood swamps to granite outcrops. Of the approximately 90 species of oaks native to the United States, 33 are native to Georgia. All 33 oaks are growing on this slope and between them dance 33 stainless steel leaf sculptures – one for each tree.

These metal oaks were designed and crafted by David Landis of Landis Sculpture Studio. Learn more about David’s work here.

3. Beech Circle

Among the stateliest of our native trees, beeches are indicative of a mature forest. Though they can take around 40 years to produce a large quantity of nuts, beech trees are critical for wildlife. Beeches provide food and shelter for all kinds of birds and mammals, such as the red-headed woodpecker. Dubbed the fairy ring, the circle of beech trees here surrounds a granite outdoor classroom and gathering place where you can contemplate how the beech trees will look in 3, 5, and 10 years!

4. Eastside Azalea Collection

Despite the native azalea holding the title of Georgia’s State Wildflower, it is underused in the landscape. The Atlanta BeltLine Arboretum is now home to the largest public native azalea collection in the Atlanta Area with over 300 azaleas on display. The collection highlights over 25 species, cultivars, and varieties, and is home to all 13 azaleas native to the state of Georgia. This collection focuses on named cultivars (varieties that have been selected for depending on color, size, bloom time, etc.) within two series called the Georgia Moon Series and the Sunrise to Sunset Series. The Georgia Moon Series will have fragrant white-blooming Georgia native species, and the Sunrise to Sunset Series will be comprised of Georgia native species in warm orange, reds, and soft yellows blooming from March – July.

5. Stumpery Garden

This stumpery garden will be a horticultural oddity, serving as a public place for learning and exploration and demonstrating how trees can be utilized in a beautiful way. Stumpery gardens utilize dead, fallen, and storm-damaged trees as an asset to the garden – providing critical habitat for beetles, frogs, birds, and small mammals such as chipmunks. Whole logs are placed upside down to display their root structure, and logs, branches, and pieces of bark are arranged to form walls and archways. Plants such as ferns, lichen, mosses, soft grasses, and trailing plants are encouraged to grow on and around them.

6. Westside Azalea Collection

Different from the Eastside collection, the Westside collection has all straight species and natural varieties that encourage free hybridization. These azaleas are all grown from seed so there are many variations in the hues even between the same species.

7. Persimmon Woods

Home to the largest American persimmon tree in the state of Georgia, this remnant old growth forest on 1.3 acres provides habitat to a variety of deep forest flora. Walking through a nature trail and over a few bridges will bring you up close and personal with woodland groundcovers, rare spring ephemerals (plants with a short life cycle) such as trillium, and a large collection of native woody species. Enjoy the seasonal blooms, learn from plant identification signs, and get hands-on with volunteer opportunities to plant, divide woodland perennials, and collect seed.